But both Peggy and her mother were startled to hear Mr. Reed say gravely, in answer to Harriet’s eager questioning:
“Nay; ’tis not about the parole I am come, Mistress Harriet, but anent a more serious matter.”
“And what, sir, could be more serious than my brother’s release?” came Harriet’s clear voice.
“A charge against you, mistress, would be much more serious,” was the reply.
“Of what do you accuse me, sir?” was the girl’s haughty query.
“I accuse you of nothing, but I insist upon truthful answers to some questions. For the sake of these cousins with whom you are staying I entreat you to reply with truth, and nothing but truth.”
“Come, Peggy,” cried Mrs. Owen rising. “We will see what this means.”
CHAPTER VIII—HOSPITALITY BETRAYED
| “For right is right, since God is God; And right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin.” —“The Right Must Win,” Frederick William Faber. |
“What is the trouble, Friend Reed?” asked Mrs. Owen as she entered the hall.